17 Household Appliances To Unplug To Save MORE MoneyBetter for your hip pocket AND the environment!

Caroline Duncan is a freelance journalist and photographer with almost 20 years’ media experience in radio, magazines and online. She is also a mother of three daughters, and when she’s not writing or taking pictures, she’s extremely busy operating a taxi service running them around to various activities. She can't sew and hates housework.

Brace yourselves! Electricity charges are only going UP!

Yep, it’s that time of year where we attempt to cool down the house as much as possible, and often end up with a whopping great electricity bill at the end of it. Summer is the most expensive time of the year.

So in the interests of reducing those electricity bills as much as possible, both to save yourself dollars and to be a bit more eco-friendly, it’s good to determine what in your house could be causing you unnecessary costs and pull the plug – literally.

Anywhere from 5 to 10 percent of your household energy bill might be coming from devices that you leave plugged in 24 hours a day, whether you are using them are not.

While experts believe most of our plugged-in appliances usually only account for low levels of electricity usage, some items like computers and televisions consume a heap of electricity – even if they are on sleep or standby mode!

The cumulative effect of having so many devices plugged in 24/7 can really start to add up and hurt your hip pocket in the process.

These are some of the biggest money suckers you should unplug when not in use.

1. Desktop computers

Also monitors, speakers, printers – pretty much your whole office is plugged in – and sometimes we leave it on all night! Turn everything off when you leave for the day!

These items can cost as much as $49 per year if you leave them on all the time!

2. Laptop computers

Laptops really suck the power, and it is so easy to leave it switched on overnight. Laptops can cost $49 per year – just by leaving them plugged in. It doesn’t hurt computers to let them use battery power during the day – then re-charge and turn them off!

5. VCRs (if you are still using one in this century)

6. Modems

Modems are often over-looked as they are tucked away. But they too use power. $36 per year in fact! Turn them off at the wall. (All modems should be plugged into a safety switch or switch protector too – to save them from storms!).

7. Pay TV boxes

8. Cordless phones

Sure, mobile phones need to be charged. But they don’t need to be plugged in all the time. In fact, you will get a longer battery life if you only charge it until it is full – then allowing it to get pretty low on battery before plugging it back in!

14. Lamps

15. Electronic gadgets like iPods plugged in to the mains

16. Home theatre systems

17. Digital picture frames

It all adds up

Our energy usage is billed by kilowatt hours (kWh) – which is 1000 watts operating for one hour. It’s good to get a handle on this to avoid any terrible surprises when the electricity bill arrives. Check your most recent electricity bill to determine how much a kilowatt costs you.

The electricity that our electrical appliances consumed when they aren’t turned off varies from appliance to appliance. The range can be anywhere from one to 50 watts of electricity. It might not sound like a lot, but when you have 20 plus appliances in your home using this, it all adds up!